London Assembly elections: 1,828 votes for Animals Count in Lambeth and Southwark

Jasmijn de Boo commented: “I am proud of our result. We are a new party and there were nine other candidates people could choose from. We had a small campaign with an even smaller budget. In a sense we are comparable to independent candidates in other constituencies, which typically received around 700 votes.”

“Under the first-past-the-post-system people tend to vote strategically rather than for their preferred candidate, if they don’t think their candidate has a realistic chance of election. Our result demonstrates that nearly 2,000 people in this constituency alone care so much about animal issues that they overcame their wish to vote strategically. I am confident we will grow and that the European Parliament elections in 2009 offer a real opportunity for Animals Count.”

The London Elections have been a learning experience, it brought our members closer together and inspired many others. We will start preparing for the European Parliament elections soon.

Thanks again to everyone who helped during the election campaign! It was worth it!

We managed to hand out 10,000 leaflets all over Lambeth and Southwark, most of them during the past couple of days. Thanks a lot to all the volunteers who have helped! Watch this space for the results…

The political campaign for the London elections is picking up speed. Dozens of volunteers are helping by distributing leaflets, coming to the photo shoot on 12th April at 10.30am near the London Eye, and helping at the ‘Party for the Animals’ event on 26th April in Kennington Park.

While other political parties pay lip service to animal welfare, we are the only party that takes animal issues to the top of the political agenda.

Jasmijn de Boo comments: “With more than half of London households sharing their lives with a companion animal, responsible pet ownership and the difficulties some face when affording pet care, are not marginal issues. We want to strengthen and implement the mayor’s animal welfare framework strategy. We’ll be a watchdog on all animal issues.”

11 April, 2008

Jasmijn de Boo, MSc, founder of the new political party Animals Count, will run in the Greater London Assembly Elections on 1st of May as a constituency candidate for Lambeth and Southwark (London Elects website).

“MP’s receive more letters about animal issues than anything other,” says Jasmijn. “However, other political parties barely mention animals in their manifestos. For millions of people, companion animals are like a family member, yet many struggle with the costs of veterinary care. For millions more the treatment of farm and lab animals is an important issue which the government tries to ignore.”

Animals Count’s main aims for these elections include:

The establishment of a basic animal health care system comparable to the NHS, including subsidised veterinary treatment and emergency care

Green recreation and wildlife protection through preservation and expansion of parks and green corridors

Jasmijn, who has a master’s degree in animal welfare, has worked in the field of humane education for eight years. Before making south London her home in 2004, she was a European Parliament election candidate for the Dutch political Party for the Animals, Europe’s fastest growing political party, which now has two MP’s and one senator in the Dutch parliament.

“Prior to the success of the Party for the Animals in the Netherlands,” she continues, “bigger parties scrambled to be seen to support new laws to protect animals from cruel treatment. Animals are now high on the Dutch political agenda, where they should be, reflecting their importance to millions of voters.”

Seeing the need for a similar party in the UK, the greatest nation of animal lovers in the world, Jasmijn and a core group of supporters launched Animals Count just over a year ago on BBC tv.

Similar political parties for animals also now exist in Spain, Germany, France and Canada.
“Animals Count aims to be part of the next big development in European politics,” concludes Jasmijn. “We want to make London the world’s leading city for animal protection.”

PLEASE NOTE: fielding candidates and campaigning is costly and we therefore appeal to you to support us generously. Alternatively, please help with distributing leaflets, contacting people, displaying posters etc. For more details, see the Events page. Animals count on you!

6 April, 2008

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